SC notice to Centre on army doctors' plea on retirement age

New Delhi, July 29 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre on a plea by a group of army doctors who want their retirement age to be increased to 65 years.

Noting the urgency of the matter as the petitioners are retiring on Sunday, the bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice U.U. Lalit directed the next hearing of the matter on August 1, thus giving two days to the Centre to respond to the plea by the doctors serving in the Army Medical Corps (AMC).

As the counsel for the doctors urged the court to ensure that they don't retire on Sunday, the bench said there was no need to worry.

Seeking parity with their civilian counterparts serving under the central government, a group of eight AMC doctors have questioned the defence ministry for not implementing the central government's decision to increase the retirement age of doctors to 65 years.

The decision to raise the retirement age of the doctors was announced by the Prime Minister, and it became effective from May 31, 2016.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his tweet on May 31, 2016, said: "Central government has decided to enhance superannuation age of all doctors in Central Health Service to 65 years with effect 31st May 2016".

"With this step, we retain our experienced doctors for a longer period and provide quality health services to citizens, particularly the poor."